Entertainment

Tarantino movie making news for the wrong reasons

Samuel L Jackson stars in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight
Samuel L Jackson stars in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight Samuel L Jackson stars in Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (18, 168 mins) Western/Action/Drama. Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks, Zoe Bell, Channing Tatum, Dana Gourrier. Director: Quentin Tarantino

WRITER-director Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to controversy and he has been gleefully provoking audiences since 1992 when he stormed the Sundance Film Festival with his incendiary debut feature, Reservoir Dogs.

His eighth film, action-packed western The Hateful Eight, has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons on the other side of the Atlantic: law-enforcement unions threatened a boycott in response to the film-maker's comments about police brutality, some critics charged Tarantino with misogyny in their reviews, and selected screenings of a 70mm version of the film were blighted with technical problems including out-of-focus images, improperly synced sound and failing projectors.

Cinemagoers took to social media to voice their displeasure and unusually, UK critics were not afforded a preview screening – so, this is not a review of the movie...

As an ardent advocate of traditional film-making techniques, Tarantino shot his film with the widescreen format in mind. Very few cinemas in Britain and Ireland are still equipped with old projectors. Only the Odeon Leicester Square in London will show the 70mm Ultra Panavision version of The Hateful Eight from today, which includes an overture composed by Ennio Morricone and a 12-minute intermission.

Technical gremlins aside, Tarantino's eighth film is a period piece set shortly after the American Civil War, which is bookmarked into six blood-spattered chapters and follows bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) as he escorts prisoner Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to Red Rock where she will be tried and hanged for murder.

She is handcuffed to Ruth and occasionally feels his wrath, when she dares to shoot off her mouth. As the bounty hunter and Daisy trek through the rural wilds of Wyoming, they are engulfed by a blizzard and seek refuge in a stagecoach lodge called Minnie's Haberdashery.

The owner, Minnie Mink (Dana Gourrier), is away visiting her mother, so Bob (Demian Bichir) is running the establishment in her absence. Other lodgers include rival bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L Jackson), town hangman Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), quiet and unassuming cowboy Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) and former Confederate General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern).

Town sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) is also present, hoping to keep the peace. With a sizeable bounty on Daisy's head, trigger fingers become itchy and Ruth faces a battle of bullets and wits to cling onto his valuable prisoner.